SWARTHY (swarthier, swarthiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: swarthier    , swarthiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does swarthy mean? 

• SWARTHY (adjective)
  The adjective SWARTHY has 1 sense:

1. naturally having skin of a dark color

  Familiarity information: SWARTHY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWARTHY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Naturally having skin of a dark color

Synonyms:

dark-skinned; dusky; swart; swarthy

Context example:

'swart' is archaic

Similar:

brunet; brunette (marked by dark or relatively dark pigmentation of hair or skin or eyes)

Domain usage:

archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)

Derivation:

swarthiness (a swarthy complexion)

 Context examples 

His face was gaunt and swarthy, scored with deep, savage lines.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was handed over to the manservant, a melancholy, swarthy individual, who led the way, my bag in his hand, to my bedroom.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were women of the cattle camps, and swarthy cigarette-smoking women of Old Mexico.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Perrault was a French-Canadian, and swarthy; but François was a French-Canadian half-breed, and twice as swarthy.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

They were swarthy fellows, bearded and fierce, as active and wiry as panthers.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His age might have been something over fifty, and his swarthy, harshly-featured face was already deeply lined either by his years or by his excesses.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His dark eyes and swarthy skin and Paynim features suited the costume exactly: he looked the very model of an Eastern emir, an agent or a victim of the bowstring.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He is a big, powerful chap, clean-shaven, and very swarthy— something like Aldridge, who helped us in the bogus laundry affair.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At Sir Nigel's words he started violently, and his swarthy features blanched to a livid gray.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Somebody strike a light, my thumb’s out of joint,” said one of the men, Parsons, a swarthy, saturnine man, boat-steerer in Standish’s boat, in which Harrison was puller.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)